Research shows social networking site users more socially connected
Questions have been raised about the social impact of widespread use of social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter. Do these technologies isolate people and truncate their relationships? Or are there benefits associated with being connected to others in this way? The Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, Washington, D.C., examined social networking sites in a survey that explored people’s overall social networks and how use of these technologies is related to trust, tolerance, social support and community and political engagement.
There is considerable variance in the way people use different social networking sites. Fifty-two percent of Facebook users and 33 percent of Twitter users engage with the platform daily, while only 7 percent of MySpace and 6 percent of LinkedIn users do the same. On Facebook on an average day, 15 percent of users update their own status; 22 percent comment on another’s post or status; 20 percent comment on another user’s photos; 26 percent Like another user’s content; and 10 percent send another user a private message.
Facebook users are also more trusting than others. Respondents were asked if they felt that most people can be trusted. Using regression analysis to control for demographic factors, the study found that the typical Internet user is more than twice as likely as others to feel that people can be trusted. Facebook users are even more likely to be trusting. A Facebook user who uses the site multiple times per day is 43 percent more likely than other Internet users and more than three times as likely as non-Internet users to feel that most people can be trusted.
The average American has just over two discussion confidants (2.16) - that is, people with whom they discuss important matters. This is a modest but significantly larger number than the average of 1.93 core ties reported when Pew asked this same question in 2008. Controlling for other factors, someone who uses Facebook several times per day averages 9 percent more close, core ties in their overall social network compared with other Internet users.
Looking at how much total support, emotional support, companionship and instrumental aid adults receive, the average American scored 75 out of 100 on a scale of total support, 75 out of 100 on emotional support (such as receiving advice), 76 out of 100 in companionship (such as having people to spend time with) and 75 out of 100 in instrumental aid (such as having someone to help if they are sick in bed).
Internet users in general score three points higher in total support, six points higher in companionship and four points higher in instrumental support. A Facebook user who uses the site multiple times per day tends to score an additional five points higher in total support, emotional support and companionship than Internet users of similar demographic characteristics. For Facebook users, the additional boost is equivalent to about half the total support that the average American receives as a result of being married or cohabitating with a partner.
Looking only at the people deemed core discussion confidants by social networking site, 40 percent of users have friended all of their closest confidants. This is a substantial increase from the 29 percent of users who reported in the 2008 survey that they had friended all of their core confidants.
The number of those using social networking sites has nearly doubled since 2008 and the population of social networking sites users has gotten older. Seventy-nine percent of American adults said they used the Internet and nearly half of adults (47 percent), or 59 percent of Internet users, said they use at least one social networking site. This is close to double the 26 percent of adults (34 percent of Internet users) who used a social networking site in 2008. Among other things, this means the average age of adult social networking site users has shifted from 33 in 2008 to 38 in 2010. Over half of all adult social networking site users are now over the age of 35. Some 56 percent of social networking site users now are female.
Facebook dominates the social networking site space in this survey: 92 percent of social networking site users are on Facebook; 29 percent use MySpace, 18 percent used LinkedIn; and 13 percent use Twitter. For more information visit www.pewinternet.org.
Smartphones seen as a necessity - but not for making phone calls
As mobile technology continues to evolve, a majority of smartphone users are integrating their devices into every aspect of their daily lives. In fact, smartphones can do so much in so many different ways that users would rather live without the calling feature than the mobile Web. According to data from BIGresearch, Worthington, Ohio, texting (21.6 percent), Internet (16.7 percent) and e-mail (15.7 percent) are the top functions smartphone users say they cannot live without. Calling features (7.8 percent), GPS (6.9 percent) and Facebook (5.9 percent) were necessary to fewer users.
Nearly 53 percent of smartphone users say they utilize all of the functions of their smartphones. Over 30 percent say they use the basic functions of their smartphones plus some applications and approximately 16 percent only use their smartphones for calling, texting and e-mailing.
With new technology, however, come new concerns, and the top privacy issue among smartphone users is location tracking (35.3 percent), followed by unauthorized access to personal information (31.4 percent); unauthorized access to financial data (21.6 percent); and online behavior being tracked (11.8 percent). Despite these concerns, 55.9 percent of smartphone users say they prefer using their smartphone to access the Internet over using a computer (35.3 percent prefer to use a computer; 8.8 percent aren’t sure). For more information visit www.bigresearch.com.
International brain drain: How far will workers go for better employment?
Countries still reeling from the global recession could be set to become employment ghost towns as more than a quarter of workers say they are willing to move overseas to find a better job, according to GfK Custom Research, Nuremberg, Germany.
The question was asked in 17 of the 29 countries covered by GfK’s international study and found that 27 percent of the workforce questioned is willing to move to another country to find better employment. And it is the young, qualified employees who are most likely to feel this workplace wanderlust: 41 percent of surveyed workers ages 18-29 agreed they are willing to move countries to find a better job. That figure is 32 percent for degree holders and 37 percent for Ph.D holders (37 percent), compared to just 22 percent of employees educated to a secondary-school level.
Unsurprisingly, the findings show that Central and South America will be the hardest-hit of the markets covered. Nearly six in 10 Mexican employees (57 percent) surveyed, half of Colombia’s workforce (52 percent) and two-fifths of staff in Brazil and Peru (41 and 38 percent, respectively) are ready to look across borders for better careers.
But the trend is far from limited to developing markets. Other markets coming in at the top of the 17 countries asked about willingness to move countries to find a better job include Turkey, in third place (46 percent); Hungary, in seventh place (33 percent); followed by Russia (29 percent) and - both coming in ninth place - Portugal and the U.K. (27 percent each).
Even the U.S. and Canada - countries traditionally stereotyped for their relative disinterest in living abroad - face a potential fifth of their workers saying that they are ready to move countries to find a better job, at 21 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
As well as countries needing to guard against brain drain across borders, there is a warning for companies too, with more than one in four workers intending to leave their employers within 12 months. Of those, 35 percent are actively looking for a new job and 18 percent are looking to move in the next six months. Just 8 percent of employees are looking to wait until the economy is more secure.
The situation looks particularly worrying for Columbia and the U.S., where around half (55 percent and 47 percent, respectively) of their workers are actively looking to move jobs. At the other end of the scale, Brazil and Belgium face a far more stable retention environment, with only 15 percent of workers actively looking to change employers. For more information visit www.gfk.com.
Consumers rank their favorite grocery stores - location and price matter most
From fresh produce to convenient location to great everyday prices and discounts, consumers consider many factors when choosing their go-to grocery store. Discount grocer ALDI is the low-price grocery leader, according to a study from Boulder, Colo., research company Market Force Information.
The study was designed to uncover why consumers choose one grocer over another and what the customer experience is like for grocery shoppers. The survey asked consumers to indicate which retailer captured most of their grocery dollars. Ten grocers topped the list, including ALDI, Costco, Giant Foods, H-E-B, Kroger, Meijer, Publix, Safeway, ShopRite and Walmart. The survey then asked consumers to rank those 10 top grocery retailers on a number of attributes such as low pricing, cleanliness, service, food quality, location and the checkout process.
Results showed that consumers view ALDI as the affordable price leader, ranking it ahead of the other nine grocery chains. On an index scale with the average score set at 100, ALDI received a 157, followed by Walmart at 129. Costco ranked third in the low-price category with an index score of 120. But, as evidenced by the relatively close scores, consumers are not seeing the differentiation on price as clearly as the self-appointed price leaders would hope.
Walmart ranked highest among respondents in offering a one-stop retailer for all their needs, although the chain significantly underscored the mean in providing high-quality meat, produce, organic products and courteous staff. Publix scored highest in offering an inviting atmosphere and environment-friendly policies. Some categories studied showed very little differentiation across the board, including convenient location, good private-label brands and variety of merchandise.
Additionally, location is the main reason consumers shop where they do but it wasn’t the only driving factor. While 67 percent of consumers indicated that their grocer choice is primarily driven by its convenient location, second on the list was price (57 percent), followed by good sales and promotions (52 percent). The availability of good private-label products was surprisingly high on the list (38 percent), revealing a growing opportunity for stores to differentiate. Trends also emerged around the food itself, with high-quality produce more important to shoppers than high-quality meat. A mere 5 percent were shown to prefer their primary grocer for its sustainable environment and green policies.
The good news for grocers is that the study showed the vast majority of consumers are satisfied with their grocery experience. When asked to think about their most recent grocery-shopping trip at their primary retailer, consumers were overall pleased, with 90 percent indicating they were somewhat or very satisfied. Conversely, only 10 percent of consumers said they were dissatisfied.
For the 10 percent of consumers who were not pleased with their most recent experience, long wait times drove the most discontent, followed by not being able to find a desired product. Quality plays a role as well, with 19 percent unhappy with the quality of the retailer’s produce and 15 percent dissatisfied with their meat quality. For more information visit www.marketforce.com.
Feelings of job security - and optimism - on the rise
American workers are easing their worries about layoffs and beginning to focus their attention on career advancement. The vast majority of U.S. workers (86 percent) are confident that they can continue working at their employer as long as they perform satisfactorily, according to a study from Accelerant Research, Charlotte, N.C.
This increased sense of security on the tail end of The Great Recession is giving way to high expectations of what future employment should look like. Nearly two-thirds of employees (64 percent) believe that their employment situation will improve in the next five years. Other points of optimism relate to compensation, in which 76 percent of workers expect their income to increase in the next five years and 29 percent believe their income will do so by more than 25 percent.
While the survey findings were highly encouraging for employees, the data also showed key areas of concern for employers in the coming years, such as losing talented employees. Fifty-seven percent of workers surveyed believe that there are better jobs available than their current position. For more information visit www.accelerantresearch.com.
Mobile banking could see a spike
Forty-five percent of U.S. consumers own a smartphone or tablet and, of that group, 52 percent currently conduct some form of mobile banking. However, the real growth in the mobile banking market will come from those who don’t yet own a smartphone or tablet.
According to a May 2011 study from Boston research company Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies, Denver, 39 percent of those who plan to buy a smartphone or tablet in the next six months are highly likely to use the device for mobile banking. By contrast only 6 percent who already own a smartphone or tablet but don’t mobile bank say they are highly likely to start in the next six months.
For many it’s simply the convenience of being able to have access to account information and transfer funds from anywhere. For others, security concerns outweigh any convenience mobile banking has to offer.
Consumers are also becoming more comfortable with using smartphones to make purchases. Forty-five percent of smartphone owners have made a purchase using their smartphone over the last year. And when it comes to paying for those purchases only 49 percent use their credit card, while over 40 percent used either a debit card or PayPal. For more information visit www.cmbinfo.com.